Hilo Hawaii, Bed and Breakfast Mauna kea
About Mauna Kea
Observatories
Hawaii is
Earth's connecting point to the rest of the Universe. The summit of Mauna
Kea on the Island of Hawaii hosts the world's largest astronomical observatory,
with telescopes operated by astronomers from eleven countries. The combined
light-gathering power of the telescopes on Mauna Kea is fifteen times greater
than that of the Palomar telescope in California -- for many years the world's
largest -- and sixty times greater than that of the Hubble Space
Telescope.
The observatories
There
are currently thirteen working telescopes near the summit of Mauna Kea. Nine of
them are for optical and infrared astronomy, three of them are for submillimeter
wavelength astronomy and one is for radio astronomy. They include the largest
optical/infrared telescopes in the world (the Keck telescopes) and the
largest submillimeter telescope in the world (the JCMT). The Submillimeter Array
is currently nearing completion, while the westernmost antenna of the Very Long
Baseline Array (VLBA) is situated at a lower altitude two miles from the
summit.
The geography of Mauna Kea
Mauna Kea
("White Mountain") is a dormant volcano on the island of Hawaii, the largest and
southernmost of the Hawaiian Islands. It is located about 300 km (190
miles) from the capital city, Honolulu, on the island of Oahu. The highest point
in the Pacific Basin, and the highest island-mountain in the world, Mauna Kea
rises 9,750 meters (32,000 ft) from the ocean floor to an altitude of 4,205
meters (13,796 ft) above sea level, which places its summit above 40 percent of
the Earth's atmosphere. The broad volcanic landscape of the summit area is made
up of cinder cones on a lava plateau. The lower slopes of Mauna Kea are popular
for hunting, hiking, sightseeing, and bird watching in an environment that is
less hostile than the barren summit area.
Mauna Kea is unique as an
astronomical observing site. The atmosphere above the mountain is extremely dry
-- which is important in measuring infrared and submillimeter radiation from
celestial sources - and cloud-free, so that the proportion of clear nights is
among the highest in the world. The exceptional stability of the atmosphere
above Mauna Kea permits more detailed studies than are possible elsewhere, while
its distance from city lights and a strong island-wide lighting ordinance ensure
an extremely dark sky, allowing observation of the faintest galaxies that lie at
the very edge of the observable Universe. A tropical inversion cloud layer about
600 meters (2,000 ft) thick, well below the summit, isolates the upper
atmosphere from the lower moist maritime air and ensures that the summit skies
are pure, dry, and free from atmospheric pollutants.
